Bus bar holder

ABSTRACT

A bus bar holder for connecting electrode terminals of a plurality of batteries arranged in a lengthwise direction, the bus bar holder including a bus bar holder plate having an opening in a lengthwise direction thereof and configured such that at least some electrode terminals of the plurality of batteries are extendable through the opening and slidable along the opening; and a bus bar for electrically connecting at least two electrode terminals of adjacent batteries, wherein the bus bar holder plate includes a settling groove in which the bus bar is settled, and the bus bar attached to the electrode terminals is slidable when the electrode terminal slides along the opening.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a divisional application based on pending application Ser. No.12/801,765, filed Jun. 24, 2010, the entire contents of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0104311, filed on Oct. 30, 2009,in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and entitled: “Bus BarHolder,” is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Embodiments relate to a bus bar holder.

2. Description of the Related Art

Due to the increased use of gasoline vehicles, vehicle exhaust gases,which include various harmful substances e.g., nitrogen oxides, carbonmonoxide due to incomplete combustion, hydrocarbon, etc., have created avery serious pollution problem. Furthermore, due to the steady depletionof fossil fuels, much research has been conducted on the development ofnext-generation energy sources and electric-powered vehicles. In thisregard, traveling distances of an electric-powered vehicle depend on theperformance of its battery. A battery may not be able to supply enoughelectric energy to guarantee that an electric-powered vehicle travels asufficient distance. In the case of a vehicle that uses a fossil fuel,e.g., gasoline, light oil, or gas, the vehicle may be quickly resuppliedwith fuel at a gas station. However, in the case of an electric-poweredvehicle, a significant amount of time may be required to recharge abattery, even if recharge stations are established. The time elapsed forcharging a battery is a problem that has to be solved forcommercialization of electric-powered vehicles. Therefore, improvementof battery performance is considered as the most important issue inrelation to the development of electric-powered vehicles.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are directed to a bus bar holder, which represents advancesover the related art.

It is a feature of an embodiment to provide a bus bar holder havingimproved connectivity with respect to electrodes of a battery havingpredetermined tolerances.

At least one of the above and other features and advantages may berealized by providing a bus bar holder for connecting electrodeterminals of a plurality of batteries arranged in a lengthwisedirection, the bus bar holder including a bus bar holder plate having anopening in a lengthwise direction thereof and configured such that atleast some electrode terminals of the plurality of batteries areextendable through the opening and slidable along the opening; and a busbar for electrically connecting at least two electrode terminals ofadjacent batteries, wherein the bus bar holder plate includes a settlinggroove in which the bus bar is settled, and the bus bar attached to theelectrode terminals is slidable when the electrode terminal slides alongthe opening.

The opening may be a single opening through which the electrodeterminals are extendable through and slidable along the opening.

The opening may be configured to correspond to the electrode terminals,the opening having a predetermined length, for slidability of anelectrode terminal, and the length of the opening being proportional toa distance from a reference point to the opening.

The opening may have a length proportional to a summed value oftolerances t of the batteries.

The settling groove may extend in the lengthwise direction of the busbar holder plate and may correspond to the opening.

The bus bar holder plate may include an insulator, and the bus bar mayinclude holes through which the electrode terminals extend.

At least one of the above and other features and advantages may also berealized by providing a bus bar holder for connecting electrodeterminals of a plurality of batteries arranged in a lengthwisedirection, the bus bar holder including bus bars for electricallyconnecting at least two electrode terminals of the plurality ofbatteries; a plurality of unit bus bar holders, the unit bus bar holdersbeing between the bus bars and the batteries, having holes through whichthe electrode terminals are extendable to be attached to the bus bars,and having settling grooves in which the bus bars are settled; and a busbar holder plate including an opening in which the plurality of unit busbar holders are slidable in a lengthwise direction along slidinggrooves, the sliding grooves being disposed in inner surfaces of the busbar holder plate.

The opening of the bus bar holder plate may have a length sufficient forthe plurality of unit bus bar holders to slide.

The bus bar holder may further include elastic members interposedbetween adjacent unit bus bar holders.

At least one of the above and other features and advantages may also berealized by providing a bus bar holder for connecting electrodeterminals of a plurality of batteries arranged in a lengthwisedirection, the bus bar holder including bus bars for electricallyconnecting at least two adjacent electrode terminals of the plurality ofbatteries; a plurality of unit bus bar holders, the unit bus bar holdersbeing between the bus bars and the batteries, including holes throughwhich the electrode terminals are extendable for attaching to the busbars, and including settling grooves in which the bus bars are settled;and a length adjuster interposed between adjacent the unit bus barholders.

The length adjuster may have an elastic bellows structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features and advantages will become more apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art by describing in detail exemplaryembodiments with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a bus bar holder attached to abattery module according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded perspective view of the structure shownin FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a sectional view taken along a line of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exploded perspective view of a bus bar holderattached to a battery module according to another embodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates a sectional view taken along a line V-V′ of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exploded perspective view showing a bus bar holderattached to a battery module according to yet another embodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates a sectional view taken along a line VII-VII′ of FIG.6;

FIG. 8 illustrates a sectional view taken along a line VIII-VIII′ ofFIG. 6;

FIG. 9 illustrates a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 illustrates a plan view of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 illustrates an exploded perspective view of a bus bar holderattached to a battery module according to still another embodiment; and

FIG. 12 illustrates a plan view of the bus bar holder shown in FIG. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0104311, filed on Oct. 30, 2009,in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and entitled: “Bus barHolder,” is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Example embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings; however, they may be embodied indifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

In the drawing figures, the dimensions of layers and regions may beexaggerated for clarity of illustration. It will also be understood thatwhen a layer or element is referred to as being “on” another element, itcan be directly on the other element, or intervening elements may alsobe present. In addition, it will also be understood that when an elementis referred to as being “between” two elements, it can be the onlyelement between the two elements, or one or more intervening elementsmay also be present. Like reference numerals refer to like elementsthroughout.

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like referencenumerals refer to the like elements throughout. In this regard, thepresent embodiments may have different forms and should not be construedas being limited to the descriptions set forth herein. Accordingly, theembodiments are merely described below, by referring to the figures, toexplain aspects of the present description.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, a bus bar holder 101 according to anembodiment will be described below. FIG. 1 illustrates a perspectiveview of the bus bar holder 101 attached to a battery module 1 accordingto an embodiment. FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded perspective view of thestructure shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 illustrates a sectional view takenalong a line of FIG. 2. The bus bar holder 101 may be interposed betweenbus bars 110 and the battery module 1.

The battery module 1 may include a plurality of batteries 10, a topplate 20, a bottom plate 30, side plates 40, and end plates 50. Thebatteries 10 may be various types of batteries, e.g., primary batteriesor secondary batteries. For convenience of explanation, it is assumedbelow that the batteries 10 are secondary batteries, e.g., lithiumsecondary batteries. However, the batteries 10 may be other types ofsecondary batteries.

The secondary battery 10 may include an electrode assembly (not shown)and an electrode terminal 12. The electrode assembly may include anegative electrode (not shown), a separator (not shown), and a positiveelectrode (not shown), and may have a wound structure or stackedstructure. The electrode assembly may be housed in the secondary battery10 and the electrode terminal 12 may be used for electrical connectionto an external device. The secondary batteries 10 may be arranged nextto each other in a predetermined direction and may be electricallyconnected to each other in parallel or in series. When connected inseries, the secondary batteries 10 may be arranged so that the negativeelectrode of one secondary battery 10 contacts the positive electrode ofan adjacent secondary battery 10. The electrode terminals 12 of thesecondary batteries 10 may be connected to each other via the bus bars110.

In the secondary battery 10, the electrode assembly may expand orcontract during charging and discharging. The expansion and contractionof the electrode assembly may act as a physical force on the secondarybattery 10. Thus, a sealing assembly accommodating the electrodeassembly may physically expand or contract according to the physicaldeformations of the electrode assembly. Due to repeated expansions andcontractions, the secondary battery 10 may be permanently deformed; andan increase in volume of the secondary battery 10 may increase theelectrical resistance thereof. Thus, the efficiency of the secondarybattery 10 may be deteriorated. Therefore, the end plates 50 may bearranged at both ends of the plurality of second batteries 10; and theside plates 40 may be connected to the side ends of the end plates 50 tofirmly fix the plurality of secondary batteries 10, to prevent theplurality of secondary batteries 10 from expanding/contracting in thelengthwise direction.

The top plate 20 may be disposed on top of the plurality of secondarybatteries 10 and may be connected to the top ends of the end plates 50.The bottom plate 30 may be disposed below the plurality of secondarybatteries 10 to support the secondary batteries 10 and may be connectedto the bottom end of the end plates 50.

The bus bar 110 may electrically connect at least two electrodeterminals 12 of neighboring batteries 10. The bus bar 110 may contain ametal. Holes 110 a through which the electrode terminals 12 are to beinserted may be formed in the bus bar 110; and attaching units 120 maycorrespond to the holes 110 a. In other words, the electrode terminals12 inserted through the holes 110 a in the bus bar 110 may be attachedto the attaching units 120. Thus, the bus bar 110 and the electrodeterminals 12 may be attached to each other. The attaching units 120 maybe screws or nuts attached to the electrode terminals 12.

The bus bar holder 101 may be interposed between the bus bar 110 and theelectrode terminals 12. The bus bar holder 101 may include an insulationmaterial to prevent a short circuit and may guide attachment of the busbar 110 so that the bus bar 110 is easily attached to the electrodeterminals 12. When the bus bar holder 101 is attached to the electrodeterminals 12, if holes were to be disposed evenly apart from each otherin the bus bar holder 101, attachment problems may occur due tomanufacturing tolerances of the secondary batteries 10. When thesecondary batteries 10 are manufactured, if the manufacturing tolerancesare high, the manufacturing costs may increase. Furthermore, since thesecondary batteries 10 are lithium secondary batteries and the volumesthereof may change during charging and discharging, if the bus barholder 101 is attached to the electrode terminals 12 through holesdisposed evenly apart from each other, a connection problem may occurbetween the bus bar holder 101 and the electrode terminals 12 when thesecondary batteries 10 are charged or discharged.

The bus bar holder 101 of an embodiment may include a bus bar holderplate 100. The bus bar holder plate 100 may include an opening 100 aformed in its lengthwise direction so that the electrode terminals 12 ofthe plurality of batteries 10 may be inserted through the opening 100 a.The electrode terminals 12 may slide, i.e., is slidable, along theopening 100 a. The opening 100 a may be a single opening through whichall of the electrode terminals 12 may be inserted. The bus bar holderplate 100 may have a settling groove 100 b in which the bus bar 110 maybe settled. The bus bar 110 attached to the electrode terminals 12 mayslide in the settling groove when the bus bar 110 is fixed to thebattery module 1. The electrode terminals 12 may slide along the opening100 a. A first bus bar 110 may be easily attached to the electrodeterminals 12 regardless of the volumes of the secondary batteries 10 ormanufacturing tolerance of the electrode terminals 12. Furthermore, evenif the volumes of the secondary batteries 10 change, other bus bars 110attached to the electrode terminals 12 may slide along the settlinggroove 100 b. Thus, the bus bar holder 101 may have a structure easilyadaptable to volume changes of the secondary batteries 10.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, a bus bar holder 201 according to anotherembodiment will be described below. FIG. 4 illustrates an explodedperspective view of the bus bar holder 201 attached to the batterymodule 1 according to another embodiment. FIG. 5 illustrates a sectionalview taken along a line V-V′ of FIG. 4. According to the presentembodiment, the bus bar holder 201 may include a bus bar holder plate200. Openings 200 a may be formed in the bus bar holder plate 200 in thelengthwise direction. First electrode terminals 12 of the plurality ofsecondary batteries 10 may be inserted through the openings 200 a, andthe electrode terminals 12 may slide along the openings 200 a. Theopenings 200 a may be formed at locations corresponding to the electrodeterminals 12. Furthermore, the openings 200 a may have predeterminedlengths so that the electrode terminals 12 may slide therein. Inparticular, the predetermined lengths may be proportional to a distancefrom a reference point S to the openings 200 a. The length of theopenings 200 a may extend in correspondence to a sum of manufacturingtolerances t of the bus bar holder 201 as a distance A from thereference point S to the openings 200 a increases. The sum of themanufacturing tolerances t of the bus bar holder 201 indicates a valueof a portion of the lengths of the openings 200 a of the bus bar holderplate 200 that extends in correspondence to the sum of manufacturingtolerances of the sizes of the secondary batteries 10 and the locationsof the electrode terminals 12. The sum of the manufacturing tolerances tmay include dimensional tolerances or geometric tolerances of thesecondary batteries 10, the electrode terminals 12, and the bus barholder plate 200. The manufacturing tolerances t may accumulate as thedistance from the reference point S to the openings 200 a increases.Therefore, the openings 200 a may have lengths extending as much as sumsof the diameter d and the accumulated manufacturing tolerances t, whichis sufficient for inserting the electrode terminals 12 through theopenings 200 a. Furthermore, the lengths of the openings 200 a may bedetermined in consideration of not only the manufacturing tolerances t,but also movements of the electrode terminals 12 due to contractionand/or expansion of the secondary batteries 10. Distances between thesecondary batteries 10 adjacent to each other may be fixed by the busbars 110. Thus, the length of openings 200 a corresponding to adjacentsecondary batteries 10 may be equal. In other words, referring to FIG.5, the length of the opening 200 a, which is two distance units 2A apartfrom a reference point, and the length of the opening 200 a, which isthree distance units 3A apart from the reference point, may be d+3t (dindicates the diameter sufficient for inserting the electrode terminals12 through the openings 200 a, and 3t indicates the manufacturingtolerances t summed three times). The lengths of the opening 200 a,which is two distance units 2A apart from the reference point, and theopening 200 a, which is three distance units 3A apart from the referencepoint, may both be d+3t, since intervals among the electrode terminals12 may be evenly maintained by the bus bar 110, the bus bar 110 may movewith respect to the greater value between d+2t, which is required at thepoint with respect to two distance units away from the reference point,and d+3t, which is required at the point with respect to three distanceunits away from the reference point.

Accordingly, the bus bar holder plate 200 with the openings 200 a, whichmay be formed in consideration of the manufacturing tolerances t, may beeasily attached to the electrode terminals 12 of the battery module 1.Furthermore, the bus bar holder 201 may be effectively adapted tocompensate for contraction and expansion of the secondary batteries 10.

Settling grooves 200 b may be formed in the bus bar holder plate 200 tocorrespond to the length of the openings 200 aTherefore, when theelectrode terminals 12 and the bus bars 110 are attached to each otherand slide on the bus bar holder plate 200, the electrode terminals 12and the bus bars 110 may slide along the settling grooves 200 b.

Referring to FIGS. 6 through 8, a bus bar holder 301 according to yetanother embodiment will be described below. FIG. 6 illustrates anexploded perspective view of the bus bar holder 301 attached to thebattery module 1 according to yet another embodiment. FIG. 7 illustratesa sectional view taken along a line VII-VII′ of FIG. 6. FIG. 8illustrates a sectional view taken along a line VIII-VIII′ of FIG. 6.

According to the present embodiment, the bus bar holder 301 may includea bus bar holder plate 300 and a plurality of unit bus bar holders 310.

The unit bus bar holder 310 may be interposed between the bus bar 110and the secondary battery 10. A holder hole 310 a may be formed in theunit bus bar holder 310; and the electrode terminal 12 may be inserted,i.e., may extend, through the holder hole 310 a so that the electrodeterminals 12 and the bus bars 110 may be attached to each other. Asettling groove 310 b for receiving the bus bar 110 may be formed in asurface of the unit bus bar holder 310.

Sliding grooves 300 c may be formed in inner surfaces of the bus barholder plate 300 so that the plurality of unit bus bar holders 310 mayslide along the sliding grooves 300 c. Grooves 310 c corresponding tothe sliding groove 300 c may be formed in the side surfaces of the busbar holders 310. Although the sliding grooves 300 c may be concavegrooves and the corresponding grooves 310 c may be convex grooves, asillustrated in FIG. 8, the embodiments are not limited thereto, andvarious modifications may be made. For example, the unit bus bar holders310 may include casters, so that the unit bus bar holders 310 may slideon the inner surfaces of the bus bar holder plate 300. Also, openings300 a of the bus bar holder plate 300 may have sizes sufficient for theplurality of unit bus bar holders 310 to slide therein. Therefore, thebus bar holder 301 may be easily adapted to changes in locations of theelectrode terminals 12 due to tolerances or deformation of secondarybatteries 12 by sliding of the unit bus bar holders 310. FIGS. 9 and 10illustrate another modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6. Inparticular, FIG. 9 illustrates a modification of the embodiment shown inFIG. 6 and FIG. 10 illustrates a plan view of FIG. 9. According to themodified embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10, an elastic member 420may be further disposed among a plurality of unit bus bar holders 410.Accordingly, the unit bus bar holders 410 may elastically maintainintervals therebetween via the elastic members 420.

Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, a bus bar holder 501 according to stillanother embodiment will be described below. FIG. 11 illustrates anexploded perspective view of the bus bar holder 501 attached to thebattery module 1 according to still another embodiment. FIG. 12illustrates a plan view of the bus bar holder 501 shown in FIG. 11.

The bus bar holder 501 may include a plurality of unit bus bar holders510 and length adjusters 520.

The unit bus bar holder 510 may be interposed between the bus bar 110and the secondary battery 10. A holder hole 500 a may be formed in theunit bus bar holder 510; and the electrode terminal 12 may be insertedthrough holder hole 500 a so that the electrode terminals 12 and the busbars 110 may be attached to each other. A settling groove 500 b foraccommodating the bus bar 110 may be formed in a surface of the unit busbar holder 510.

The length adjuster 520 may elastically connect the unit bus bar holders510 to the adjacent unit bus bar holder 510. For example, as illustratedin FIGS. 11 and 12, the length adjuster 520 may be an elastic objectwith a bellows structure. Accordingly, the bus bar holder 501 may beeasily adapted to changes in length due to manufacturing tolerances asthe length adjuster 520 elastically adjusts its length.

In comparison to the bus bar holder 501 illustrated in FIG. 11, the busbar holder 401 illustrated in FIG. 9 may restrict a sliding range of theelectrode terminals 12 along the length of the bus bar holder plate 400and may also be advantageous due to the bus bar holder plate 400 thatguides the unit bus bar holders 410 during sliding.

The bus bar holders 101, 201, 301, 401, and 501 illustrated in FIGS. 1through 12 may be applied to the battery module 1. In an implementation,the battery module 1 may include twelve secondary batteries 10; andeight battery modules 1 may be stacked to form a battery pack. Such abattery module 1 or a battery pack may be applied to electric-poweredvehicles, and it is clear that the bus bar holders 101, 201, 301, 401,and 501 may be applied to the battery module 1 and the battery pack.

Exemplary embodiments have been disclosed herein, and although specificterms are employed, they are used and are to be interpreted in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purpose of limitation.Accordingly, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the artthat various changes in form and details may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in thefollowing claims.

1.-15. (canceled)
 16. A bus bar holder for connecting electrodeterminals of a plurality of batteries arranged in a lengthwisedirection, the bus bar holder comprising: bus bars for electricallyconnecting at least two adjacent electrode terminals of the plurality ofbatteries; a plurality of unit bus bar holders, the unit bus barholders: being between the bus bars and the batteries, including holesthrough which the electrode terminals are extendable for attaching tothe bus bars, and including settling grooves in which the bus bars aresettled; and a length adjuster interposed between adjacent the unit busbar holders.
 17. The bus bar holder as claimed in claim 16, wherein thelength adjuster has an elastic bellows structure.
 18. The bus bar holderas claimed in claim 16, wherein the batteries are secondary batteries.19. The bus bar holder as claimed in claim 16, wherein the batteries arelithium secondary batteries.
 20. A battery module for electric-poweredvehicles including the bus bar holder as claimed in claim 16.